# aptitude install xserver-xorg-input-evdev

Make sure your kernel has support for evdev (modprobe evdev).

Identify the beast:

$ cat /proc/bus/input/devices

I: Bus=0003 Vendor=046d Product=c01e Version=0110
N: Name="Logitech USB-PS/2 Optical Mouse"
P: Phys=usb-0000:00:02.0-1/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input3
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=mouse0 event3 
B: EV=7
B: KEY=ff0000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: REL=103

Note the line beginning with “N: Name=”. Now, add a new InputDevice to X configuration:

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier      "MX518"
    Driver          "evdev"
    Option          "CorePointer"
    Option          "Name"      "Logitech USB-PS/2 Optical Mouse"
EndSection

Then edit the ServerLayout section and make sure it says something similar:

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Default Layout"
    Screen         "Default Screen" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Generic Keyboard"
    InputDevice    "MX518"
EndSection

After logging in, launch a terminal and xev in it. Click the window with the extra buttons and see if they report right.

See the external links on how to configure the extra buttons to do various things.

• http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Advanced_Mouse
• http://blog.blackdown.de/2005/04/03/logitech-mx1000-configuration/